is it really so bad?

i found this interesting quote in Richard Dawkin's latest book (which btw is full of interesting things), who in turn was actually quoting the Shorter Oxford Dictionary (i may be too lazy to look up citations but at least they're correct ... convoluted as they may be) under the definition of "Consolation"

A philosopher points out that there is nothing special about the moment when an old man dies. The child he once was 'died' long ago, not by sudden ceasing to live but by growing up. Each of Shakespeare's seven ages of man 'dies' by slowly morphing into the next. From this point of view, the moment when the old man expires is no difference from the slow 'deaths' throughout his life.

and another (Dawkins quoting Oxford quoting Mark Twain)

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before i was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it

and finally, quoting Bertrand Russel, "What I Believe", from "Why I am Not a Christian"

I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young, and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting

exasperation

i'm reading a point of exasperation with this whole fiasco of trying to make my postgraduate studies abroad happen. between trying to get references from no so supportive referees to dealing with a faceless, utterly inhumane corporation completely obsessed with forcing the retention of its staff (irregardless of any notion of productivity and efficiency), to government agencies so overly obsessed with racial and ethnic definitions that fail to reward those good and deserving candidates (and by the way are in complete violation of constitutional definitions related to ethnic affirmative action), all this bullshit is really testing the boundaries of my (as it is very limited) patience. now I may take some solace in the fact that things generally work out someway in the end, the problem is making sure they work out the way i want them to ie in a way amounting to me not being in this country by middle of the year

now i'd be incredibly annoyed if i were denied a scholarship or university placement because my references are lazy.